


Lee Donghyuck and the No Good, Very Bad Day

by rowx3yourships



Series: Not What Was Expected [4]
Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alpha Lee Jeno, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Best Friends, Beta Huang Ren Jun, Domestic Fluff, Gen, Huang Ren Jun & Lee Donghyuck | Haechan Are Best Friends, I'm Bad At Summaries, Light Angst, Multi, Omega Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Omega Na Jaemin, Platonic Cuddling, Sad Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-19 01:02:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22336006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowx3yourships/pseuds/rowx3yourships
Summary: Donghyuck knew he was a strong and independent omega, but that didn't stop him from the itching feeling in the back of his mind when he thought about imprinting and his mate - or lack thereof. And some days it's just a little bit worse. At least he has amazing friends to try to help.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: Not What Was Expected [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1515275
Comments: 6
Kudos: 146





	Lee Donghyuck and the No Good, Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> another part of the a/b/o universe (I've had this sitting in my partially finished drafts for a little while now - sorry it took so long)
> 
> this comes before [Soccer Played on Field of Irony](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21814027/chapters/52056337) \- which is no surprise given the content / such

Donghyuck woke up with the stirrings of a headache. It wasn’t the sort of headache that would signal his heat approaching, but it was a headache that meant he wanted to curl up in a nest and block out the world. Unfortunately, classes wouldn’t stop just for a bad day. So instead of building up a nest in his bedroom and refusing any interaction, he pulled himself out of bed and forced himself through the simplest morning routine before dressing in a simple pair of worn jeans with a soft t-shirt and a giant oversized hoodie he had stolen from his cousin before moving to college. The hoodie had long since lost any traces of his scent, but that didn’t take away from the small comfort it brought.

His first class of the day was a music history class, and while he normally found it at least mildly interesting (some days it was absolutely fascinating), today his mind couldn’t seem to focus. It didn’t help that one of the girls who sat in front of him had just imprinted and her mate had decided to audit the class. Which in reality meant they were all over each other. And while Donghyuck was used to being around clingy and affectionate mates (Jaemin had never been able to keep his hands off Renjun and Jeno), the couple in front of him were taking things to a completely different level. He wasn’t sure which was worse, the sight of the spectacle they were causing or the way their scents were overpowering everything else in the room, even the scent blockers that were placed in every classroom on campus. 

Donghyuck pulled the sleeves of the hoodie down over his hands while leaving enough space to continue taking notes, but he still ended up curled in on himself. It wasn’t that he was jealous exactly, he just felt a little more raw and lonely today. Perhaps that was the reasoning behind his headache and the itching in the back of his mind that he needed to build a nest to burrow into. Of course he wasn’t sure how well that would solve matters either as the only scent in his bedroom was his own, which meant he couldn’t smell anything and there wouldn’t be anything to actually comfort him, and the only alpha he really knew and trusted on campus was Jeno, but he was already mated (twice) so he couldn’t just ask for anything.

When the class was finally over, Donghyuck threw his things into his bag and tried to hurry out of the room. Once outside, he pulled the hood up over his head and tucked his hands into the pockets on the hoodie. It wasn’t much, but he hoped it would help things even just a little. At least his next class he shared with Renjun so he would have someone to distract himself with.

The unforeseen problem with his plan to power walk to his next class avoiding as much human interaction as possible - the extracurriculars fair that was going on in the center of campus. Donghyuck took a quick breath before starting off through the quad. If he walked fast enough and made his way around the main portion of the fair then he should be fine.

Of course that didn’t exactly work out the best for him either. When he had almost made it completely through the worst of it, having been speedwalking through the least occupied portions, he ran into another student and the pair of them fell to the ground, pulling another person down with them. Just as he was about to start apologising the other two students seemed to be in a daze and Donghyuck hoped neither had hit their heads. The girl started to giggle and blushed and he rolled his eyes, even though the other boy seemed to find it the most interesting thing ever.

That was when he realised what had actually happened. They had just imprinted in front of him. Because of him.

Donghyuck pushed himself back to standing and without another glance at the pair started back towards the building where his math class was located. _‘This day gets better and better.’_ He tried to talk himself out of skipping class to just go back to the dorm, because he knew that Renjun wouldn’t leave him alone if he skipped.

~*~

Donghyuck sighed as he dropped into his seat, ignoring the look from Renjun. He could smell Jaemin had been scenting him again and rolled his eyes. “Can you even smell like yourself or do you just smell like Jaemin now?”

“And you smell horrible. What’s wrong, Hyuck?” Renjun turned to give him a suspicious look, and Donghyuck turned away from him, pulling out his notebooks to try and hide his face. “Hyuck, what’s wrong?”

Of course, if there was anyone who would be able to tell the change in Donghyuck’s mood it would be Renjun. Aside from being best friends, he shared the higher sensitivity to scents. That was probably another reason why he always ended up smelling more like his mates (or rather mainly Jaemin because he was constantly scenting the other two). Donghyuck smelled Renjun’s own scent growing a little sour and he shook his head, trying to calm himself down and hopefully manage to calm his own scent. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Donghyuck absentmindedly played with the edge of the sleeves of his hoodie, rubbing the worn fabric. He normally would be hoping for the class to start late, but today he was wishing the professor would show up sooner to start class. He caught the concerned look from Renjun and shook his head. “I’m fine. I just didn’t sleep well. Don’t worry.”

Donghyuck could tell Renjun wanted to continue, but luckily for Donghyuck, their professor walked in to start class. Renjun’s scent was still slightly soured as an almost afterthought, and Donghyuck felt bad but he also knew there was really nothing to be done about his mood. So instead, he curled farther into the hoodie as he started taking notes.

~*~

Donghyuck sighed and wanted to hit his head on the table in the study room his group was using. Their project outline was due at the end of the week and they had almost nothing finished. It didn’t help matters that Minsoo had just stopped their discussion to (literally) squeal over a text from her mate. That of course led to the other member of his group bringing up some of the things her mate had done, going back and forth almost in competition with each other. 

“Remember when we had the first big test?”

Haeyoung gasped and bounced, hitting the table, causing another pain to flash through Donghyuck’s head. “Of course! In front of the whole class, too! That was so sweet of him.” Donghyuck sighed and rolled his eyes.

Unfortunately they seemed to have caught his reaction and turned to him. “And what does that mean, Donghyuck? Are you jealous?” 

“Why would I be jealous of either of your mates?” Donghyuck scoffed and shook his head. “But we really need to finish the outline.”

Minsoo dropped her phone onto the table and turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “Why don’t you have a mate, Donghyuck? I mean, there’s not something wrong with you, right?”

“Of course, you’re not exactly the normal omega, though. And your scent is a little-” Haeyoung shrugged with a slight grin. 

Donghyuck frowned and stood up, shoving his chair back. “Of course there’s nothing wrong with me! And who cares if I’m not some submissive little airhead? And as for my scent, of course I don’t know what it is like, you can’t tell your own scents, that’s basic knowledge.” He started stuffing his notebook into his bag, ignoring the looks from the other two omegas. “You are both seriously misinformed if you think every omega has to be like your cookie cutter ideas. Your mates are probably also the overbearing abusive alphas that all the crime shows are about too.”

Ignoring the response from the other two, Donghyuck almost ran out of the study room, barely catching himself by reminding himself that he couldn’t get banned from the library less than halfway through his first semester. When he made it outside, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart and breathing down. He shouldn’t let them get to him. 

The problem was that he had heard those same things before. At least, after he had started to stand up for himself after what happened in high school. Donghyuck wrapped his arms around himself and pulled the hoodie tighter, trying to pretend it was actually a hug instead of just himself. He glanced around before taking a deep breath to try and calm down more. While he wasn’t paranoid about the walk back to his dorm at night, he knew that there might be some people who wouldn’t be the kindest about an omega in distress, as he was sure his scent would be suggesting. 

Donghyuck decided to skip the bus and just walk back across campus to his dorm, making sure to keep as far from people as possible. He didn’t want anyone to see him upset. If he could make it back to the dorms, there was no reason to leave for the rest of the day. And he didn’t have anything over the weekend either. So perhaps he would actually give in and try to pull some things together for a nest. 

He could skype with his cousin, and maybe convince him to come for a visit as well. Surely he still had some friends who haven’t graduated yet. Then Donghyuck could get him to scent a few things, just for days like this. His heat should be coming up before the next school break, so he could beg for a few extra things for security and comfort in the more neutral phases. As long as his heat didn’t turn too bad he could get through it without the sexual aspect of it completely taking over. He hoped it wouldn’t - since those were always the worst and left him feeling exhausted and dirty.

Just thinking about it made Donghyuck shudder and he sighed as he made it back to their dorm building. Once upstairs in his room he could take a shower and try to pretend nothing had happened. He could ignore everyone else. Shut everything else out and hopefully when he woke up in the morning the mood would be gone.

~*~

Donghyuck sighed and curled up in the corner of the couch, pulling the hood of the hoodie back down as he wrapped his arms around himself again. The fabric had long since lost any scent from his cousin and there wasn’t any real help for his mood, but at least it was warm and soft. A shower had helped a tiny bit, and curling up in some of his softest pajama pants along with the hoodie couldn’t hurt either. There was at least the scents of both Jeno and Jaemin (and a fainter trace of Renjun) in the dorm, so he could try using that to help settle. 

While Jeno was mated (twice) and therefore his scent wasn’t as effective as another alpha, Donghyuck trusted him and that was more than could be said of any of the other alphas on campus. Jaemin’s scent was stronger in the dorm just like it was on his mates, and a fellow omega’s scent was always calming. Even the traces of Renjun’s scent could help somewhat as they were best friends and therefore he obviously trusted him and felt safe with him. It wouldn’t completely work for him to get over the mood, but at least he could try and get a little more calmed and settled. 

He knew there were homework and project assignments that he should be working on, but he didn’t think he could focus enough to do any good on anything. So instead he pulled out his phone and opened his music department shared folder. At least he could pretend to be productive by listening to the instrumental that they were supposed to be writing lyrics for. The assignment wasn’t due until the end of next week, so he had time to procrastinate any actual writing. Donghyuck shuffled through the files before finding the one labeled for this assignment. 

When he scanned the brief written on the title page of the piece, Donghyuck felt his heart drop and he quickly logged back out of the shared server. A love song. Of course. He knew that he would have to be able to at least somewhat put aside his personal life in order to write, but to try and write a love song today would most likely end up as a tragedy. 

He felt his phone go off and he sighed at the text from Renjun. He had promised earlier this week to meet them for dinner tonight as a sort of celebration for the first official soccer game of the season, but with the way he had been feeling all day he didn’t want to ruin the mood. So he texted back saying that he wasn’t feeling well and he was going to try and sleep early tonight but for them to have fun. While he loved his best friend and roommates, sometimes it was too much like being a third (or in their case - fourth) wheel. 

Donghyuck curled further into the corner of the couch, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees with a small sigh. He didn’t want to let the words get to him, but a part of him (that he would never admit to) really wanted to have the sort of relationship and intimacy with someone that was meant to be with him. As cliche as it might be, just the idea of someone being a perfect match waiting out there somewhere for him caused his chest to constrict slightly. 

His phone vibrated again and Donghyuck ignored it, closing his eyes to try and pull himself out of the pity party for himself. He shouldn’t become one of those desperate omegas who will jump at anyone with the slightest hints of imprinting. He was stronger than that. He could survive without someone. At least for a little while longer.

His phone vibrated again and Donghyuck sighed before reaching to pick it up. It was just an email notification from the school’s music library and an instagram notification from Jaemin - which was (no surprise) a picture of his mates (this time Renjun standing and placing an order at the counter of one of the food trucks). Donghyuck liked the post before dropping his phone to the cushion beside him and leaned his head back against the couch, closing his eyes with a sigh. He loved his roommates and his best friend, he did, but sometimes their overwhelming coupleyness just hurt.

~*~

Donghyuck didn’t realize he had dozed off until he heard the sound of the door opening. He shifted and glanced over to see both of his roommates and Renjun walking into the dorm room, several bags between them. He rubbed his eyes with a frown. “What-”

“You have smelled horrible all day and it’s gotten worse, now tell me what is wrong with you.” Renjun walked over and dropped the bag in his hand on the table before climbing onto the couch beside him and staring him down. “And don’t lie and say it’s just that you didn’t sleep well or feel sick or such, because I know how those smell on you.”

Donghyuck sighed and curled up further into the hoodie. He didn’t want to have this conversation right now. Especially not while the other three had obviously been out together. “It’s nothing, I just-“

“Lee Donghyuck, I swear, if you don’t tell me what is wrong I will sit on you and force feed you all of this food until you cave and give up.”

He scoffed at Renjun’s words. “As if you’re big enough to-“ His words were cut off as Renjun reached and pulled his knees down from his chest with a frown. “Okay, okay, I get it!” He took a shaky breath and glanced down to the sleeves of the hoodie, his fingers starting to pick at the material. “I’m lonely. I’m surrounded by mates and who would even want a smartass omega like me anyways? I don’t fit their cookie cutter ideal so of course I’m going to be alone forever.”

“Hyuck, I-“

“No, you don’t understand. I’m not talking about you. I love you three. You are all weird and wonderful too. But I’m just-“ Donghyuck took a shaky breath, not realising he had started to cry. “I’ve been fighting it harder today is all. Before math, I made two people imprint - on each other. I am the reason they’re mates. Just because I was in a hurry and trying to avoid people but there was the stupid extracurriculars fair and I bumped into someone. Have you ever seen someone when they imprint? And it was my fault. How can I make other people find their mates when I don’t have one?” His voice cracked and he tried to breathe. 

“And of course there was the group meeting for the project in lit class. Which went as well as you can expect from being stuck in a tiny study room with two other omegas, both who are the stereotypical type and both have mates. They were both more than willing to list reasons why I’m alone. Not that it isn’t something I’ve heard for years anyway.” He wiped at his face with a frown. “And I wasn’t lying when I said I hadn’t slept well. I woke up with a headache and it’s not a heat headache.”

“Nesting?” 

Jaemin’s voice was soft and Donghyuck nodded. “But lucky me, I don’t have a mate or an available alpha that I actually trust.” There was a small noise of disagreement from Jeno, but Donghyuck shook him off. “Yes, I do trust you, but you’re mated. Twice, even. I can’t just ask-”

Donghyuck was cut off as Renjun pulled him up from the couch, pushing him towards where Jeno was standing (and making him almost trip over the small coffee table in front of the couch). He stumbled and threw himself against Jeno, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face in his neck. It wasn’t the same as if he was curling up against someone he could claim as his own mate, but it did help calm his breathing down slightly. He felt Jeno slowly return the hug, and Jeno’s scent grew stronger and more calming. A slight whine escaped his lips and he felt Jeno’s arms tighten slightly before he started to lead Donghyuck back to the couch. 

Before he could think of what exactly Jeno was doing, he was pulled down to sit in Jeno’s lap. Donghyuck tried to pull away for a moment before Jeno’s arms tightened and his scent grew even stronger. Of course he had told his roommates about the scent sensitivity, and they would have also known how to help with it because of Renjun. Donghyuck sighed and curled up against Jeno’s chest, closing his eyes and burying his face in his neck. He would only take enough comfort to calm down enough to last until he could hopefully convince his cousin to visit or until the mood passed. Jeno’s scent was comforting, even just as roommates (so he was sure it was even more so for Renjun and Jaemin) and Donghyuck let himself get wrapped up in it. 

Donghyuck wasn’t sure how long he stayed curled up in Jeno’s lap soaking up as much comfort as he could, but he blinked back to consciousness (as he had got lost in the scent and security of Jeno) when he was being poked on the arm. He turned to see Renjun smirking at him and holding out a takeout container and a pair of chopsticks. 

“Eat something, Hyuck. I would almost bet you skipped lunch and you bailed on our dinner plans. If you don’t eat, I’ll make Jeno feed you. Or he’ll hold you down while I force feed you.”

Renjun might be grinning slightly, but Donghyuck knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to follow through with any of his threats. “Yeah, yeah. I am more than capable of feeding myself, thank you very much.” He rolled his eyes with a sigh as he moved to climb out of Jeno’s lap, instead sitting between him and Renjun on the couch. “Sorry for stealing your mate for a while.”

Renjun shrugged with a smirk. “I have another, I can just replace him.” 

Donghyuck knew Renjun was playing along, because there was no way that any of them would give up on one another. Jeno, however, pouted and turned to Renjun, his scent already wilting. “Junnie-”

Jaemin laughed as he walked back from the tiny kitchen carrying another set of drinks they had bought. “Aww, our little alpha.” As Jaemin leaned over to press a kiss to Jeno’s lips, Donghyuck turned away with a fake shudder. “Do you want a kiss too, Hyuck?” He turned back to see Jaemin smirking at him before winking. 

“Gross, no.” That didn’t stop Jaemin from moving to press a sloppy kiss on Donghyuck’s cheek. “Why? Why are you like this?”

Renjun laughed and moved to pull Jaemin away from him and Donghyuck mentally thanked his best friend. “If he doesn’t get attention he will supposedly die. Of course, there’s never been any chance to test that.” Renjun shifted to pull Jaemin onto the couch on his other side before climbing into his lap with a smirk at the shocked and excited expression at Renjun’s actions. 

Donghyuck laughed before shifting slightly on the couch. “Well since we’re all here, do you guys want to watch the new movie we were talking about last week that just came out online?” There were noises of agreement from the other three and Donghyuck smirked as he watched Renjun shift closer on Jaemin’s lap, turning towards the television and leaning more against his chest. 

“I’ll get it set up.” Jeno stood and moved over to the smaller table beside the couch for the remote control. He turned on the lamp, flipping the overhead light off and leaving the room darker but still with enough light to continue eating. 

Donghyuck shifted to curl farther into the couch, slowly starting to eat the food Renjun had shoved at him. He had to admit, it was nice, sitting between his roommates and best friend, and he slowly felt himself start to relax, only partially paying attention to the movie. 

He started to feel full and moved to put the container on the table in front of them. Donghyuck could still smell the stronger comforting scent coming from Jeno and he shifted closer. He felt a hand take his from the other side and glanced over to see Jaemin wink at him. Donghyuck rolled his eyes with a small laugh. Although he wouldn’t admit it, he did feel better because of it. 

“Thank you.” Donghyuck’s voice was soft and he pulled his legs up to his chest again. 

“Lay down, you still smell down.” Renjun poked him on the shoulder, nodding towards Jeno. “His lap is a good pillow. Trust me. He can even play with your hair. And he doesn’t try to braid it like some other people.” 

Donghyuck laughed at his words and the offended pout on Jaemin’s face. He felt Jeno’s arm wrap around him and nudge him down and he sighed knowing there was no escaping what was turning into a massive cuddle fest on their cramped couch. 

Jeno starting gently running his fingers through Donghyuck’s hair and he let out a small contented hum. The movie had ended and Jeno moved to flip through the main menu to find something else to watch. 

“Oh! There’s a new episode! Let’s watch that!” Renjun’s voice was excited and Donghyuck could smell his scent growing a little stronger and laughed softly. He glanced over to see Renjun staring at Jeno with what might be intended to be a cute pout on his face. Both of his roommate’s scents grew fonder and Donghyuck knew they would be watching another episode of the space show that Renjun had found and fallen in love with.

As expected, Jeno clicked on the new episode and Renjun smiled before leaning to press a kiss to his lips before he curled back against Jaemin. Donghyuck playfully made a gagging noise but only smiled at Renjun’s frown. He wasn’t sure why Renjun liked the show as much as he did, but the way his scent brightened made Donghyuck smile. 

This was the kind of intimacy that he craved. He didn’t need anything extravagant or flashy. Just someone to curl up together with. Someone to share the small things with. He sighed softly and curled up a little tighter, and judging by the stronger push of the comforting scent from Jeno, his own scent must have soured slightly. 

Renjun’s commentary through the show and the feel of Jeno’s fingers running through his hair with Jaemin’s hand a reassuring warm weight on his leg slowly made Donghyuck relax even more. He hadn’t meant for it to happen, but his eyelids slipped shut and he dozed off, warm and comfortable.

**Author's Note:**

> [ i don't own any of the nct members - this is just fiction ]
> 
> the names of any side / original characters are purely made up - so any connections are purely a coincidence
> 
> for those of you who are waiting on the next chapter of Donghyuck's actual imprinting - don't worry, I'm in the process of finishing it up :)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! let me know what you thought and if you have any questions / thoughts / requests / such ... I love hearing from people
> 
> [ also - this probably would have been finished up a little sooner but I got distracted because SF9 got their first (and second) win!!! ... they're a bias group of mine so needless to say I was super thrilled for them and got distracted from other things ]


End file.
